Congenital Heart Disease

Aortic Coarctation

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Diagnosis

If a child doesn't have severe symptoms at birth, aortic coarctation may go unnoticed until a child is older. Your pediatrician may suspect a problem if he or she hears a distinctive murmur or if there is high blood pressure in the arms and low pressure in the legs.

Tests to determine whether a coarctation is present include:

• Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)
• Chest X-ray to see the heart's size
• Echocardiogram
• Possibly a cardiac catheterization to inject a dye into the heart and to see on a moving picture X-ray how the heart and aorta are functioning

Last reviewed in March 2003 by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.